Singapore has been one of the popular choice when it came to cryptocurrency trade. But now the Crypto hub of Singapore may lose its sheen as the latest bill passed by the legislation may not be in favour of Crypto companies from overseas. According to the latest Financial Services and Markets Bill, it becomes mandatory for all the overseas company to acquire a special license for carrying on crypto operations from Singapore.
This comes as a blow to the company based in India and some other countries who wanted to shift their head offices from India to countries like Singapore, Dubai, etc to avoid the strict regulations of their own countries. Now the governments of these favourable places will also earn income by imposing higher tax on companies settling from outside their periphery.
Though the functionalities of Crypto companies in Singapore are already under the control of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) but this new law entrusts them with more regulatory powers.
India became rigid with digital market in India and brought new tax regime for Indian crypto investors. This was followed by a ban of payments through UPI and other sources in INR.
Singapore is now in the same league.
“We could be exposed to reputational risks brought by digital token service providers created in Singapore, and which provide services relating to virtual assets such as Bitcoin outside Singapore. The FSM Bill seeks to mitigate such risks by licensing these players and imposing AML/CFT requirements on them.”, Alive Tan, a board member at the MAS while passing the bill earlier this month, had remarked.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has earlier warned people about the volatile nature of digital assets and hence also issued an advisory asking people not to invest in Cryptocurrencies.
Loo Siew Yee, MAS Assistant Managing Director had said, “MAS strongly encourages the development of blockchain technology and innovative application of crypto tokens in value-adding use cases. But the trading of cryptocurrencies is highly-risky and not suitable for the general public. DPT service providers should therefore not portray the trading of DPTs in a manner that trivializes the high risks of trading in DPTs, nor engage in marketing activities that target the general public”.
This move could be favorable for Dubai as investors and big crypto houses would now eye Dubai to settle their crypto businesses.
